A sacred fish is seen on the tondo of this deep plate with tripod feet. The way in which it is portrayed is similar to fish seen in the watery Underworld on Maya ceramics and architectural stucco facades of the lowland regions to the east. Dotted water signs have been painted on the inside walls of the vessel, surrounding the fish with appropriate iconography. Broad, horizontal symbols are painted on the outside walls and recall much earlier Olmec culture
iconography resembling the bracketed gum-line of the saurian earth monster. Little is known of the Los Tuxtlas ceramic painting tradition of the Late Classic period (CE 600-900. It was popular in the south-central Gulf Coast region of Veracruz, but it is evident there is influence and relation to contemporaneous Mayan themes and styles. Made from a pinkish-tan clay covered in a kaolin white slip and painted with black-brown and deep red pigment. It measures 11.75" in diameter x 3.75"H. Condition is very good, but it has been broken into a number of large and small sections which have been glued back together. There is minimal paint touch-up only on areas where there is new fill (approx. 5%). Basically, the plate is intact and with all three tripod feet. There is minor loss, abrasions to, and erosion of the highly delicate surface, not uncommon for the type due to the moist, acidic soil conditions of the region. From a private Midwestern collection formed in the mid 20th C.